Heritage

Plovdiv, the second largest city in Bulgaria and European Capital of Culture 2019, boasts unique ancient treasures which makes the city one of Bulgaria's most popular tourist destinations. Along with the antique sights, Plovdiv offers an opportunity to follow the development of the Bulgarian culture throughout the period of the National Revival. The Old Plovdiv, located on one of the seven hills of the city, has preserved the greatest number of authentic buildings dating back to this period.

The Holy Trinity Monastery of Divotino, founded way back in 1046 and popular among the locals as “the king's monastery”, huddles in the folds of Mount Lyulin, 5km away from the town of Bankya and 20km from Sofia. It is among the earliest cloisters in the group of monasteries known as the Sofia Sveta Gora.

For the 12th year in a row, the National Archaeological Institute with Museum (NAIM) is organising the temporary exhibition Bulgarian Archaeology. The show traditionally presents the results of explorations conducted over the past season of archaeological fieldwork, putting on display some of the most interesting finds, along with extensive illustrations.

Located on a high plateau towering over the modern-day town of Provadia, eastern Bulgaria, the fortress of Ovech played an important role in the history of the medieval Bulgarian state. Initially built by the Byzantines in the 4th century, it was taken control of by the Bulgarians in the 7th century and actively used until the country fell under Ottoman rule at the end of the 14th century. However, it was not completely abandoned until the 17th century

The Eleshnishki Monastery The Dormition of the Mother of God is part of a group of cloisters around the capital of Bulgaria called Sofia Sveta Gora. It is situated 15km east of Sofia, nestled at the foot of Murgash Peak in the Balkan mountain range. According to local legend, there was an ancient monastery on that same spot, razed to the ground by an earthquake.

Durankulak is Bulgaria's northeasternmost populated place, and the last village before the Romanian border. People have been living here for 90 centuries - from the Neolithic to the present day. In those distant times, several villages lined the banks of Durankulak Lake and the so-called Big Island, the oldest of them dating back to 7000 BC.

Rich in mosaics, the Small Basilica fits perfectly into the complex of ancient landmarks in the city of Plovdiv, named European Capital of Culture 2019. Its ruins were discovered by accident during construction works next to the interior part of the fortification wall that marked the eastern outskirts of the ancient city.

Everyone knows the story of Romeo and Juliet from Verona. But hardly anyone knows about the Bulgarian tragic couple who, legend has it, lived in the 17th century in the village of Ledenik, situated some 2km west of Veliko Tarnovo on the north bank of the Yantra River.

The city of Pernik, situated in western Bulgaria, is known as “the city of black gold” because the local people, their livelihood, and the very development of this industrial centre, have been closely connected with coal mining ever since 1891 when the Mines and Quarries Act was adopted. It was then that the first colliery called Old Mines started working at the Kulata site. The first mining buildings were constructed around it.

Some nine kilometres northeast of Varna is where the “St. Constantine and St. Helen” Monastery is located in the popular resort of the same name. There are no reliable historical sources indicating as to when the cloister was established. The earliest written records of its history date back to the 19th century and can be found in the book Letters from Bulgaria, by renowned Russian traveller Viktor Teplyakov, published in Moscow in 1832. Legends have it that a monastic brotherhood inhabited the region as early as the 14th century.

Located just five kilometres away from the popular winter resort Bansko, the village of Banya (Bulgarian for Bath) is nestled in the valley formed by Mount Pirin, Mount Rila and the Rhodope Mountains. The region boasts 72 hot springs with water temperature of about 55°C (131°F), whose use for balneotherapy and treatment of various conditions has earned the village a reputation as the mineral-water paradise of Bulgaria.

In the Central Rhodope Mountains near the road from Asenovgrad to Smolyan, at an altitude of 1,545 metres above sea level amidst the scenic locality of Krastova Gora, is situated a monastery dedicated to Holy Trinity. The place is believed to be miracle-working, and on the night before 14 September - Holy Cross Day according to the Bulgarian Orthodox liturgical calendar - thousands of believers from all over Bulgaria and the neighbouring countries come in crowds in the hope for miraculous healing.

To the Thracians, life after death was much more important than their earthly existence. A large number of tombs discovered in Bulgaria are a proof to that. They were specially built to guarantee comfortable afterlife to the local nobility. One of the most interesting and remarkable among these structures is located in the mound of Ostrusha, which is situated near the town of Kazanlak, in the Valley of Thracian Kings.

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